A variety of approaches have been and continue to be taken for reducing and or eliminating human body malodor, especially from underarm perspiration. These approaches include reducing/eliminating perspiration itself, reducing/eliminating odor at the root cause (for example, interfering with the degradation of perspiration on skin caused by the action of bacteria) as well as masking the odors themselves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,853 to Trinh et al describes personal treatment compositions and cosmetic compositions containing enduring perfume wherein the enduring perfume is evaluated by a "calculated log P" parameter. PCT application WO 97/30689 to Trinh et al describes personal treatment compositions which can be used as leave-on products which are evaluated by the same criteria.
EP patent application 0 760 243 A1 to Groverman et al describes the use of allylic perfumes as a malodor reduction agent.
EP patent application 0 545 556 A2 to Behan et al teaches a perfume composition containing at least 50% by weight of specific components (in minimum percentages of each component) selected from the group consisting of ethers, salicylates, alcohols, acetate/propionate esters and methyl ethyl ketones where members of at least 4 of the groups must be included.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,809 teaches the neutralization of axillary malodor.
Various references which describe evaluation of underarm deodorants or methods of evaluating products used as deodorants include P. M. Baxter et al, International Journal of Cosmetic Science, Volume 5, 85-95 (1983); Chemical Senses, Volume 13, No. 3, 463-471 (1988); J. A. Killian, J. Soc. Cosmetic Chemists, Volume 3, 30-76 (1952), incorporated by reference in their entirety herein.
Specific studies of selected fragrance agents include A. Baydar et al, Chemical Senses, Volume 18, No. 6, 661-668 (1993) (olfactory threshold for androstenone and galaxolide); Chemical Senses, Volume 18, No. 3 245-256 (1993) (mutual cross adaptation of the volatile steroid androstenone and a non-steroid perceptual analog); L. J. Flett, J. Soc. Cosmetic Chemists, Volume 1, 304-310 (1949) deodorant properties of nacconol).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,737 to Barr et al describes selected fragrancing compositions such as Tonalid in deodorant products.
There is still a need, however, for improving the way that cosmetic compositions are fragranced. Thus it is an object of the invention to provide fragrancing compositions which are useful in controlling malodor, especially underarm malodor. It is another object of this invention to provide fragrance enhancing components of a fragrance system for cosmetic products so that the amount of the overall fragrance components can be reduced. It is a further object of the invention to provide fragrance enhancing components that improves the performance of conventional fragrancing products. It is still another object of the invention to reduce the overall irritation potential of cosmetic products by reducing the amount of fragrance needed to provide a satisfactory product. It is also an object of the invention to provide fragrancing compositions which exhibit improved ability to mask underarm odor. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide improved underarm products such as deodorants and antiperspirants containing such fragrancing compositions. These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention.